Deadwing0608

Another sort of technical application question...When I applied to MA programs I had to pay the application fees/submit the applications before the schools I applied to sent out their requests to my recommenders. It was not a problem then because I had my SOP/writing sample ready quite early. This year I anticipate wanting to tweak both until the last possible second... My question is can I pay the application fees/submit the applications early so those requests go out and then go back and upload my SOP/writing sample closer to the deadline? I do not want my recommenders to have their inboxes flooded at the last second...I'm sure this will vary by school, but any feedback from those who have already survived an application season would be much appreciated!

Hi All, Just curious if anyone has taken language courses at a community college, and if so, how that is looked upon during PhD admissions? The language I need is a bit off the beaten path, and is only offered at a very small number of universities nationally (<10 so far as I can tell). As luck would have it the introductory year of the language is offered locally as there is a local community of speakers. Would it be worth it to take a year of the language, even if at a community college? I lean toward yes, because it is such an uncommon language. Thoughts? Thanks!

I get migraines w/aura too, and they can be debilitating. Any sense of what (if any) your triggers are? My biggest is sunight, particularly glare from the sun (think sunlight on snow or on wet pavement...the glare you see on fenders when driving), followed by excessive eyestrain. To a lesser extent dehydration triggers them for me. I invested in some heavy duty polarized sunglasses and it cut down the number of incidents I had by at least 65%.

It's probably time for me to introduce myself as well! I am currently an MA student. I study 20th century U.S. history with a focus on citizenship, labor, and immigration, particularly regarding Southeast Asian refugees in the post-1965 period. I am applying to: Yale, Univ. of Minnesota, Cornell, Columbia, and Univ. of Maryland. I am also considering NYU, Harvard, UC Berkeley, BC, and UW-Madison. I took the GRE as an undergrad, 167/148/5.5. I have been studying over the summer to try and bump the math score. I am aiming for the mid-upper 150s...here's to dreaming...